Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Live reporting - Finance Committee 04/29/09

Attending:
Brett S. Feldman
Juan Rivera
Patricia Goldsmith
Phyllis Messere
Rebecca Cameron
Mark Cataldo
James Roche
Tina Powderly

Missing:
Craig Maire
Robert Teixeira


Library Acct 610

Felicia Oti

Police budget request cut 200,000, Fire request cut 600,000

Library will be closed on Friday's, hours cut to 52
will apply for a waiver to maintain certification from Library Board
Jeff hopeful that the waiver won't be an issue given what is going on

Discussions with Medway still ongoing, Town Meeting required for approval

Rivera - commendation to the Library for all the work and services you provide. Question on cost of office supply increase? Just cost related?
Oti - yes,
Nutting - focus on keeping open as much as possible, keeping 52 hours (80% level) so cutting the book budget is one way to come and balance the budget
Oti - meet minimum in hours (50.5) will only need to apply for waiver for the overall budget dollars

Powderly - What was the change in subscriptions?
Oti - We drop the access to some databases but maintains the access to the Minutemen inter-library loan. There are other sources to access the info provided via the databases.

Roche - What was the total Library staffing in 1999?
Oti - 19

Roche - big budget, easy target, what kind of services do we really want?
Cameron - How is morale? Foot traffic is increasing.

Nutting - To say morale is good or bad, they have a job. You show up and do the best you can. In any place, I have ever worked, no one has ever said morale is great.
Oti - It is low.

Feldman - Is there any utilization of volunteers?
Oti - we do use the tax workout volunteers

Rivera - How is the inter-library

Cindy Dobrinski - Library Board Director, library use has increased considerably, especially over the last several months. Even in support of the school system. She references the library video (I have the link) where the student compares the librarian to the teacher and the librarian allows him to think. She urges consideration when they make their final deliberation.

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